BAYOU CORNE — The Public Broadcasting Service television series NOVA is working on a documentary about the sinkhole in northern Assumption Parish.

NOVA producer Larry Klein tells The Advocate a film crew associated with the science program finished up four days of interviews and shooting in Bayou Corne on Friday. Klein says a one-hour program is set to air in the winter of 2015.

"This particular program is looking very broadly at sinkholes," Klein said.

The program will report on why and where sinkholes occur around the world, he said, whether their numbers are increasing and whether anything can be done to prevent or lessen them.

Klein, who has been making PBS programing since the 1970s and has National Emmy and George Foster Peabody awards to his credit, said his crew already has done filming in Florida and plans a trip to the Zaragoza region of northeastern Spain in about a week.

Scientists believe a Texas Brine Co.-operated salt dome cavern had a breach after it had been mined of its salt too closely to the outer face of the large salt deposit surrounding the cavern. That breach in the salt dome cavern's supporting wall allowed surrounding rock to flow into the cavern, leading to the sinkhole at Bayou Corne.